Shortly after graduating high school, a couple friends of mine and I got a real world education on the sales price of items as we were contestants on the popular game show The Price is Right on CBS. My friend was better at this process than I was as he came home with a car. I spent the day on contestants’ row being outbid by several and coming home with a consolation prize. When setting the sales price of your home will you be like my friend and come out a winner or like me? If you are like me, I doubt you’ll get a consolation prize.

When considering selling your home there are some things you must know to set the price for your home to sell.

First of all, your homes value is viewed differently by the various parties involved in the transaction. As the homeowner, normally your belief of the value will be the highest. Your value is based off of the experiences you have had in the home. Your prospective buyers are going to view the value much lower. The buyer doesn’t care that you laid the tile in the bathroom one weekend or any other sweat equity you may have in the home. A price that will sell the home will be somewhere in the middle.

If the price is initially set too high your home will sit on the market for a lot longer than necessary. Homes are shown most in the first few weeks of being on the market. Would you rather have the price set right to get an offer early on or wait it out until someone comes along after you’ve reduced the price months down the road?

“So how do I set the price,” you ask. The first thing you need to do is invite two to three Realtors into your home to perform a comparative market analysis (CMA). Most Realtors will provide this as a free service to you in hopes of gaining your future business. A CMA shows the sales price of comparable homes that have recently sold in your area.

Now that you have some data to look at, you must decide which Realtor’s price makes the most sense to you. You will be tempted to list with the Realtor that provided you with the highest value. This is not always the best choice. In this case the Realtor may be coming back to you in a month demanding you reduce the price for the property to sell.

Here in Cache Valley, we still have a thriving real estate market. Homes hold their value, yet buyers are sensitive to price now due to the National media’s negative coverage. The good news is if your home is priced right, it will sell. Currently, the market is great to buy with low interest rates and a large inventory of homes to choose from.

If your home is overpriced, it will sit on the market for a while. So, the question to ask yourself: is the price right?

Robert Bowen is a Realtor® with RE/MAX EXCEL of Logan. You can contact him at robertbowen@remax.net or call him at 435-770-1352 with any questions.

If you've watched the news, read the newspaper, listened to the radio, or even had casual talk at the water cooler you've probably heard there are some significant problems Nationwide with home sales. Yes, this is true. Although, how true is this regarding our local market in Cache Valley and what is really going on?

As a local REALTOR®, I've recently been flooded with inquiries about the status of our local Real Estate market. While it is true nationally a problem exists, someone forgot to tell the local Real Estate agents.

Here are some stats for you to consider from the Wasatch Front Multiple Listing Service. During the fourth quarter of 2007 the average days on the market for a home listing was 60 days. During the same time period of 2006 the average DOM was 67. Also, the average sales price of a home was $193,078 as opposed to $186,478 in 2006.

As I have told this news to people they are shocked. "How can that be", they say, "all the news talks about is how bad it is."

Cache Valley has a strong market. The market in Cache Valley has remained a steady market over the years. The prices are not dropping because they didn't rise that much to begin with. Many of the areas in the country that are having trouble saw unrealistic appreciation in home prices over the past years. These unrealistic prices could not be sustained, hence they are now dropping.

Utah in general has a market that is being watched nationally.

"With more people moving into the area, thanks in part to a percolating job market, demand for affordable existing homes is still healthy," reported Forbes.com's Deborah Orr in her Nov. 8, 2007 article Ten Rising-In-Value Real Estate Markets.

The other crisis that is contributing largely to the concerns people have is the news of all of the mortgage problems and foreclosures. Almost nightly for the past six months the news programs have featured doom and gloom. If you have good credit, don't worry about this. The mortgages that are having problems are part of the subprime market. Yes, it is much harder to qualify for a loan if you have shaky credit, can't verify your income, or have a short employment history.

Basically, if you are looking to buy a home that you really can afford to finance you can do it. In talking with the valley's mortgage lenders, they tell me people are still able to get loans. And to justify it, my clients are still getting preapproved.

If you are considering buying a home, now is a great time to do it. Interest rates are at a close to all time low and seller's are in general more willing to negotiate on prices than in the past few years.

Does this mean people should wait to sell their homes? No, if you have needs to sell your home now is still a good time. The key to selling is pricing your home properly. Overpriced homes always take longer to sell. Keep in mind that if you are willing to lower the sale price of your home, now is a great time to find another home and get a good deal on it.